LESSON 3 OF 16 • FOUNDATION
Lesson 3: Quiet Head, Honest Takes
From the AHD Off-Speed Masterclass with BK, for baseball and fastpitch softball hitters.
Today's Lesson
“A good take is evidence of a good decision.”
Your head feeds your eyes, and your eyes feed the brain. On off-speed, extra head movement turns a moving target into a harder one. Keep a quiet head with the body moving underneath it.
Takes matter just as much. Swinging at everything hides whether you really saw the pitch. A take, with a call out loud, trains recognition, timing and zone judgment without the noise of a result. This lesson ends with the Foundation Test: your baseline for recognition, chase, balance and contact before the course adds harder pitches.
Why It Matters
A drifting head degrades information exactly when you need more of it, and you can’t improve what you never measured. The baseline makes every later test mean something.
Coaching Cue
Quiet head. Call it. See, stay, decide.
Today's Work
About 25 minutes:
• Mirror dry swings (10): head stays still, eyes on a spot beyond contact.
• Tee work with a visual target past contact (10). Film 5 from the front and check head movement.
• Take-and-call (20 mixed pitches): take every pitch. Call speed (fast/slow) and strike/ball out loud.
• Foundation Test (30 pitches): 10 takes, 10 controlled swings, 10 competitive swings.
Track It
Record the six baseline numbers: speed recognition %, strike/ball call %, chase %, balance %, hard-contact % and head-stable swings on film. You repeat this test in Lesson 6 and again in Lesson 16.
Next: Lesson 4 starts the Recognition block, sorting pitches by speed first and then by shape: straight, drop and sweep.
Foundation Test
You need: Bat, balls, a tee and a partner to mix speeds
How to play: Run the 30-pitch test: 10 takes, 10 controlled swings, 10 competitive swings. Record all six metrics. Targets: 80% speed calls, under 25% chase, balance held on 8 of 10 competitive swings.
Scoring: Single: all six metrics recorded. Double: three metrics at or above target. Triple: all targets hit. Home run: every target hit and head stays quiet on video. Log 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple, 4 for a home run.
0 TB1️⃣ SINGLE
1 TB2️⃣ DOUBLE
2 TB3️⃣ TRIPLE
3 TB💥 HR
4 TB
Grade it: Below 1 = out. 1+ = single. 2+ = double. 3+ = triple. A perfect 4 = home run.
LOG YOUR AT-BAT